The Dragon King

Prologue

"Why would the station send us way out here?" Warren huffed as he crossed his arms.

"To catch speeders," Caroline replied with a swift up and down movement of her arms. "It's a long, open road. People speed here all the time."

He rolled his eyes at his partner as he leaned against the hood of his police cruiser. "But seriously, how many people even travel these roads? There's nothing out here for miles. Nothing but forest anyway."

Caroline chuckled as she opened the door to the car. "Oh, stop your whining. It'll be nice to just be able to relax for a little bit."

He looked up into the night sky at the stars. "Yeah, relaxing will most likely put me to sleep. I want to something exciting to happen!" He sighed before standing upright, and stepping to the driver side of the car.

A sudden burst of white light shone in the distance as the ground shook below them. Warren squatted as the ground beneath him cracked. Not a second later, the ground stood still.

He sprang to his feet and looked through the window at his partner. "You alright, Caroline?"

"Yeah, I think so." She clung to the arm rest in between the seats and the bar above her head. "What was that?"

He shook his head. "I don't know." He looked into the forest off in the direction in which the light had come from. What could've caused that? There was nothing out there. Nothing able to cause such a burst. "But I'm about to find out."

He took off into the forest, his hand resting on the gun in its holster in case he were to run into some unwanted guests.

"Warren, wait!"

He didn't heed her call. He was determined to find out what had happened. There had to be an explanation. Maybe there was some big drug banger hanging out here in the woods making more drugs to sell. Maybe something had exploded. Anything was possible. This could be his big break to finally getting him up a rank, and not just some regular old beat cop.

As he ran through the forest, lights began shining in the distance along with a few car horns beeping. He was nearing the edge of a cliff that dropped off into a river far below, knowing he wasn't going to be able to go much farther, but he had to find out where the horns were coming from.

He slid to a halt, his shoes digging into the dirt as he slowed down so he wouldn't tumble off the cliff. His eyes widened as he beheld the sight in front of him. He panted heavily from his sprint, and his heart beat against his ribcage. He blinked a couple times and rubbed his eyes making sure his mind wasn't imagining things.

He shook his head as he continued to stare forward. "That's... not possible."

"Warren!" The sound of shoes scrapping against the ground and panting filled his ears, though he didn't turn around. "Man, you can run fast. What's going—"

Caroline stood beside him, and by the way she cut herself off, he knew she had to be staring dumbfounded too.

He stared down gazing at a small town. It appeared to have just come out of nowhere! What was going on? "That wasn't there before, right?" he asked his partner, hoping she would say yes so he wouldn't feel crazy.

"Not that I know of," came her stunned reply.

"Wow," was all he could get passed his lips. He chuckled. "We have to be going crazy. Maybe the long night shifts are getting to us."

Bushes started rustling behind him. It was probably nothing, but the wind. It did appear to be picking up as the night dragged on.

"Drop the sword! Put your hands in the air!"

Warren spun around, his gun pulled and pointed as Caroline's alert voice startled him. A young boy who looked no older than sixteen came stumbling from the bushes. His clothes looked like a costume with its leather, sleeveless jacket that buckled over a white tunic, and brown boots that rose to the middle of his knee. What alarmed Walter the most, was the bloodied sword in his grasp.

He pointed his gun directly at the boy's chest. "Drop your weapon, son!" The boy looked dazed and confused. In the dim moonlight, Warren could see the boy had a large gash on the side of his head oozing blood. What was this? An early Halloween party gone wrong?

"Please." The boy took a few steps forward, the sword still tight in his grasp. "Snow White. Tell me where she is!"

"Who's Snow White?" Officer Caroline asked, stepping up beside Warren. "Is that your girlfriend? Is she dressed as Snow White? Is she out here too?"

"Boy, you need to drop the sword," Warren interrupted. His gun shook in his hand as he yelled his next words. "Drop it before I shoot!"

He watched as the boy's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he collapsed to the grass on his stomach, the sword slipping from his hands. Warren looked over at Caroline as they both slowly lowered their weapons.

He stepped over to the boy, scooting the sword away with the tip of his shoe before bending down to find out if the boy was still alive. After finding a pulse, he sighed and looked up at his partner who was sheathing her weapon.

She huffed. "How's that for excitement?"